This invention relates to tooling and methods for forming corrugations into sheet metal.
Corrugations are formed into metal sheets in order to strengthen the same against bending loads for such uses as floor panels subjected to heavy loads.
The use of conventional die sets can be used where the production volume of a given corrugated panel is sufficient to justify the cost of the die set which is typically quite high.
Another method is to form a series of bends in the sheet using standard forming tools, but this is very time consuming as four separate bending operations are required for each corrugation and this process also requires turning over the sheet or plate for each bend.
While adjustable tooling for forming parts has been proposed in the past, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,440,809 and 6,834,525, these have not been suitable for forming heavy duty corrugated sheet for such applications as panels used for the bottom of cargo barges, trucks, and the like.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an adjustable die set and method for forming corrugations in relatively thick sheet metal with a single press operation to enable a number of varying corrugation configurations to be formed with a single low cost die set.